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This site is designed to talk about the Harlem Hellfighters and their struggles and triumphs. From how they got their name, and their battle in France where they received an award in France.

The 369th Infantry Regiment, often known as the Harlem Hellfighters, was an infantry regiment of the New York Army National Guard during World Wars I and II. It was originally created as the 15th New York National Guard Regiment before being reorganized as the 369th following federalization. They got their name from the Germans. The Germans fighting against them called the 369th Infantry men Hollenkampfer, which is German for hellfighter. This is how they received the nickname Harlem Hellfighters.
The Harlem Hellfighters’ exceptional bravery made them famous in both Europe and America as newspapers covered their amazing exploits. The French government conferred the prestigious Croix de Guerre medal and a Croix de Guerre citation on 171 members of the regiment after the war.
After their battle in France. They were empowered by the people of France. They gave them the strength to go back and fight even harder for their freedom. Some people can argue that World War I was in many ways the beginning of the 20th-century civil rights movement. The war created opportunities for African Americans to demand their civil rights, both in and outside of the Army. Furthermore, the war transformed the racial and political consciousness of a generation of black people. This would shape the activism and everyday resistance of black people throughout the postwar period.  
Unfortunately, their was also a lot of racism when the hero’s returned home. While they were celebrated in the streets of New York, they also encountered hatred and violence. Their were a lot of white Americans who were threated by the returning Black solders because of their military service and exposure to new ideas about race and equality in France. Many black veterans were victims of a wave of racial violence in 1919 that came to be known as the “Red Summer”.
Red Summer was a period in the 1919’s, where white supremacist terrorism and racial riots occurred in dozens and dozens of cities across the United States. They only attacked black Americans.
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